Ants Ants Ants.....ughhhh

I dont know why, but all off a sudden i have an inundation of little black ants. They are climbing all over the cage and getting into there food.

I need a safe idea on how to keep away from and off the cage.

i currently covered the floor under and around the cage with bi card soda, and that has done is made a big mess.

Does any one have any suggestions, please im begging

Food grade Diatomaceous earth.... Place it on the bottom of the cage and put something in the middle for bait( piece of candy) then place some around the wheels...

Diatomaceous earth is safe.. Some people eat it..

Vacuumed as many up as you can or mix warm tap water with dawn dish soap and put in a spray bottle. The mix is safe to spray around your birds.

Both of those methods I've tried and yes they do get rid of some, but when an army of them comes after the nectar, nothing stops them!!!! Here's what I had to do to get rid of the ants, first of all you have to leave no food behind, so when your birds toss food on the floor, clean them up asap! I used two size tupperware containers and prefer both being tall instead of shallow. Place each wheel in the smaller tupperware container, then place the smaller one into the bigger one and fill the bigger one with soap water, or vinegar water. The ants won't try to swim in it!!! So the ants were deterred from going into my bird room and they all left over time. Also go to the outside of your house and find where they're coming in from and spray insecticide for ants. I've tried the natural remedy cause we don't like to use insecticide but with ants, not much works. Chalk line works to a certain extent but they will eventually find a path to cross it.

I've used Borax with good results... but it really depends on the ants... not all will react to the same stuff... but the DE is pretty good!

I bought the ant bait nest things and put them under her cage it seems to work well and doesnt interfere with midnight.

I used to use ant rid, works a charm!!
I put it where the ants were coming from though, and made sure birds didn't go there.

Have you tried smearing petroleum jelly/Vaseline around the cage legs? I'm sure I've used that before, although knowing Australia, your ants are probably bigger.

Bigger as in, 2 feet tall, and venomous.

Lol, Grenage.

Well I can tell you what DOESN'T work because I tried last summer and they still came. Both these methods were lauded as safe and guaranteed to work all over the Internet:

1. Chalk: I lined all the door and window frames excessively, they still crossed it.

2. Cinnamon powder: I lined the sills and they just crossed. All i got were ugly cinnamon stains on the window.

Vinegar/water solution is safe to use around birds and kills ants and spiders on the spot but does not deter a future wave of ants because it evaporates. If you can find a way to use vinegar in a permanent manner, that might do the trick.

BoomBoom said:

Lol, Grenage.

Well I can tell you what DOESN'T work because I tried last summer and they still came. Both these methods were lauded as safe and guaranteed to work all over the Internet:

1. Chalk: I lined all the door and window frames excessively, they still crossed it.

2. Cinnamon powder: I lined the sills and they just crossed. All i got were ugly cinnamon stains on the window.

Vinegar/water solution is safe to use around birds and kills ants and spiders on the spot but does not deter a future wave of ants because it evaporates. If you can find a way to use vinegar in a permanent manner, that might do the trick.

Click to expand...

Yes the solution will evaporate that's why you have to refill it but it really doesn't dry up that fast. It was my only solution to get rid of all the ants period.

what I use and it works great

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00556359W/ref=oh_details_o08_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1]Amazon.com: Control Natural Aviary and Cage Bug Spray 32oz: Pet Supplies[/ame]

Could always put the cage legs in containers and fill the containers with water....

Might have to worry about rust, but would help to deter the ants... as well as putting vaseline on the legs...

Grenage said:

Have you tried smearing petroleum jelly/Vaseline around the cage legs? I'm sure I've used that before, although knowing Australia, your ants are probably bigger.

Bigger as in, 2 feet tall, and venomous.

Click to expand...

ROFL, that made my day Greenage. What is it that makes u think that? lol.

we do have some nasty ants, green ants, meat ants, jumping jacks... but im just talking bout the tiny little black ones.
Not everything in Oz is nasty and veneomous..., just the pretty things.


Thank you every one for ur help hints.... ill try them all

MonicaMc said:

Could always put the cage legs in containers and fill the containers with water....

Might have to worry about rust, but would help to deter the ants... as well as putting vaseline on the legs...

Click to expand...

I've tried the vaseline method, it works at first but the ants still find a way to bypass it.

My method of using two bowls prevents any rust period cause the wheels nor legs is sitting in water as the water is in the outer bowl, not the inner bowl.

Also just check the legs of the cage to make sure that they are not setting up nest in there. Last year we were getting over run by little black ants and we found them nesting in Bundii's cage. I had to end up pulling the whole cage apart and blasting them out with a high pressure hose. We ended have to use Ant Rid in small little containers away from her cage and just keep checking her cage about 100 times a day. I have also been told cloves are another natural remedy.